I jumped out of bed all excited. I had posted an interesting and controversial article at Flares that contained a special insight into the war on terror and I was sure people had reacted and posted comments.

I grabbed a cup of coffee and turned on the TV to see if the world was still there. I saw the tail end of a report on CNN about citizens in Ramadi turning over a big al Qaeda guy. I knew about that already. In fact I already knew about the citizen turn around in Ramadi. In fact I've known that for a few weeks already and even made comments about it elsewhere.

I sat down at the PC, eager to see if anyone had written a comment on my latest blog posting yet.

But there was nothing. Not even my article.

The blog posting I woke so excited about, was only a dream.

Man, I love life. All these little surprises.

I think I need another cup of coffee.

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Update: Ah. Coffee. Food shopping. Fresh winter air. Life is good today. And I'd like to show you what I was doing instead of posting a blog article. The Cricket Cage has the latest. Note the gap between October 4th and December 3rd? That's because of this blog and also because of intently following the Plame Game at JustOneMinute. I'm beginning to get into the Christmas spirit. No, I don't want to join my love of blogs with my 3D stuff. I want them separate. You will find little to no political posturing in my work. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

We in central Texas haven't seen any snow in a decade or two. Temp finally went below friz for the first time a couple days ago, with some freezing rain. Thousands of people skidded off into ditches, many of them in vehicles.

Just read 'about-misc" over in the Cricket Cage--what a sweet point-of-view--and nice of hubby to let you use the TRS-80! (*groan*)

I had a very early--TRS-predess--came out before the Commodore--talking chess set. it was a pretty fair chess program, ran on batts or 110, and said things like Bishop takes pawn" and "I Win" er I mean "You Win".

I used to take it with me on tours into the Amazon rainforest, and used to let the Indians--always hanging at the edge of the drilling sites--play with it. They got the biggest uproarious laughs out of that talking chessboard.

I never saw that one. I remember one on the Commodores though. I used to play with the little hand-held game thingies, like Basketball, and one for Baseball, and Master Mind. Radio Shack was my favorite place back then.

But that's neat that you brought it with you down there!

Games have gotten so big and complex. One needs a huge computer with gigantic speakers and monitor. Or Playstation type things.

Cool of you to pick up on that, Syl--that was exactly the thing about it--the chess-set times, it took a half dozen flights to get in there, puddle-jumper from Victoria to Houston, then Continental to New Orleans or Miami, PanAm to Caracas or Maricaibo, then local air-taxi out to Anaco or El Tigre, then back to puddle-jumpers out to base, then choppers out to those rank wildcat drilling areas--so I had to cut down to one carry-on bag for 30 day hitches (food & tech equipment was on site)--so, to haul that 5 lb chess-set, I had to forgo an extra few sets of overalls (I'd just shower in my overalls, and wash 'em along with me). But in the 70s, having a piece of the highest consumer-tech (replete with LED display!) that far into the boonies--with paleo-exotica all around (4x too-big armadillos and anteaters wandering around, frogs that stood up on back legs to take a look at you, flights of hundreds of multicolored parrots in the trees), was entirely too psychedelic to pass up. ahh...please excuse the reverie....

I understand about winter. Well, not literally. But it is memories that influence our attitudes. Even my worst winter memory, of a 35-mile drive seeing cars in ditches as I drove, slowly, by--stretching to see out the passenger window because my wiper had gotten stuck and I didn't dare stop to wipe off the window--is a good one. Me and my trusty Datsun made it home that night on winding two-lane country roads. Quite a triumph.

Buddy

Wow. What an adventure bringing that thing. But the joy of having it and showing it...priceless. What an adventure, period. Frogs standing up on their back legs to take a look at you?!?! Wow, again!

That harness is beautiful, isn't it? That's why I didn't put the sleigh in that picture. I wanted the horse and background to blend, and the harness to stand out.